Nine Things the Director of the Graham Foundation Has in Her Home

The stylish architecture buff is heading up the Chicago Architecture Biennial this fall.

It’s a busy year for Sarah Herda: As she continues her role as director of the Graham Foundation, a nonprofit architectural organization, she also prepares to codirect the Chicago Architecture Biennial (October 3 to January 3, chicagoarchitecturebiennial.‌org). The first such event in North America, the biennial will host world-class architects from more than 40 countries for a series of events focused around the future of building, making Chicago the center of the contemporary architectural universe. “No matter where you are in the world, you learned about Chicago when you became an architect. It’s a shared backdrop to have a conversation about the future,” says the 42-year-old Seattle native.

Herda’s passion for architecture extends to her personal effects, and her home—a Mies van der Rohe high-rise on Lake Shore Drive—is a modernist oasis for her and her husband, Kenneth Stewart, chief of operations for Rebuild Foundation, which focuses on neighborhood redevelopment. Here are some of her favorite things.

Tucker silk dress

($324 for similar style, tuckerbygabybasora.‌com)
“Gaby [the designer], one of my best friends and a Chicago native, has a print for every occasion.”

David Hartt photo

(davidhartt.net)
“I am fascinated by the manifestation of utopian ideals in a pink room, with a drum set and half-made geodesic toy.”